


Which Witch?

by Cassiebobassie



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Magic, Childhood Friends, Childhood Memories, Graduation, Love Potion/Spell, M/M, Mechanic Dean, Misunderstandings, Mutual Pining, POV Alternating, Pie, Pining, Psychic Abilities, Secrets, Spells & Enchantments, Truth Spells, Warlock Dean, Witch Castiel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-05
Updated: 2017-10-05
Packaged: 2019-01-09 10:44:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12274767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cassiebobassie/pseuds/Cassiebobassie
Summary: Castiel has been keeping secrets from his best friend Dean--that he hones white magic, that he has over a hundred familiars, many of them bees) and that he's in love... with Dean Winchester. Since the harvest moon, Dean has left Castiel behind and has been spending his free time with Lisa Braeden. In desperation, Castiel is preparing a love spell. Will he be able to set things right between him and Dean again?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is inspired in part by Harry Potter, Practical Magic, and Into the Woods, but mostly the story is my take on magic. Poor Cas has a crack in his chassis that makes him a great White Magician, perhaps the greatest history has ever seen. But he's hiding...and hoping he can graduate with his secrets still in tact. (Also, Don't worry, there is no major Lisa/Dean.) Also, my concussion makes it hard to catch typos, so let me know if you see any. :)

 

He wouldn’t die if this spell went wrong. His heart wouldn’t actually break. He knew that. But as he mixed ingredients, cinnamon for heat , rose for for passion, Cas was certain that if this spell didn’t work now, his life would be over all the same.

He’d been best friends with Dean for eight years, ever since the day the Winchesters moved into the farm next door. There were acres between the two homesteads, so Cas had missed the new comers’ arrival. He’d missed his mother Hannah marching over her best spell-made pie. He’d missed learning that the two young boys were about to enter their first everTrue School on Monday morning and that their hunter father was ready to retire. He missed hearing that Mr. John Winchester had taken up a part-time post as Dean of Defensive Magic at the school, and he’d missed hearing that Sam was a promising young warlock who already memorized the 50 most common magical creatures and the first 10 beginner spells for defensive magicians. Most importantly, Cas had missed learning that their young mother had died when a fire spell had gone horribly wrong. Castiel would learn all of this eventually—best friends often shared whispered secrets in the dark—but at the time his family met the Winchesters, Castiel was over a mile away, humming a sweet song to coax bees toward his garden. What he did not miss, were the soft, hoarse cries for help in the nearby Milton family well.  
Running toward the sounds of distress, Cas stared down into the deep. Inside, there was Dean, lit directly by the sunlight above—he was all golden skin and bright green eyes, an utterly perfect creature. Cas was half convinced he’d found a fairy.

Instead, Cas had found a ten-year old boy, the one boy that time would reveal he couldn’t seem to live with out. After awkward introductions and several stressful minutes securing the bucket rope, Cas helped pull Dean from the pit, and they had been joined at the hip ever since. Wherever Dean was, Cas was never far behind. They’d had eight years of mischief, and pranks, and unending laughter. Eight years of being the person who made the other smile most.

The only thing that had ever separated them in their long history was Lisa Breaden.  
Cas huffed at the thought. Because Lisa was a terrible witch. She couldn’t return flowers to life. She could barely brew a sleeping draught. When Cas had insisted at a weekly Winchester-Milton family dinner a fortnight ago that dating someone like that was a waste of time—of course he had to say it in code because his former best friend had never come out and actually admitted to dating her—Dean said no warlock would ever care. His exact words had been, who needs a great witch for a wife? He then went on to insist that “Lisa was badass” and unlike most of the “lame” girls because she actually knew some blood work spells.

Cas rolled his eyes at the memory. It seemed, at least to Cas, that despite her rudimentary craft, she had somehow been able to cast more than a sufficient love spell. There was no other way to explain what had happened on the Harvest moon.

“I’m bored man,” Dean whined. “At least buy me something to eat.”  
“Just a few more minutes, Dean. The new witches are almost done.”  
“I don’t get why you care so much. You watch the new white witches every year. Surprise. Surprise. They suck. And guess what? All school entrants suck. Even the defensive magic is lame.”  
Cas rolled his eyes, and kept watching the stage.  
“I mean it, Cas. If I have to watch one more reanimated butterfly, I am going to lose my mind.” He nudged Cas with his elbow. “Level with me. Are you waiting for your one true love or what, dude? If you’re gonna watch somebody, you should be watching the blood work. You still haven’t told me what you spell you plan to work at your equinox graduation performance. I started practicing mine two freaking months ago. What are you waiting for anyway?”  
Cas just shrugged, unwilling to explain that, instead of blood spells, he had an affinity with other magic, the kind of spell work most women performed. He could just hear Dean laughing at him, calling it flower power, saying he was a girl, calling him Cassandra or Cassie like his older brothers. It was fine for male warlocks to show an interest in bees and plants, but only if the focus was scientific in nature. So Cas claimed he enjoyed the science behind herbology and magical zoology. It was quite another thing entirely to admit he had no interest at all in defensive magic and even less in the kind of blood work that men who planned to be hunters studied. And Cas never shared that he grew his own plants with songwogrk and befriended the animals in the forest.  
“You know, we are allowed to have fun, Cas. The festival is for fun and for debut performances. We don’t have sit here every year and watch people we don’t know. It’s not like it’s required. If you don’t want to strut your stuff in front of all of these dicks in a few months at graduation… Don’t. I just don’t know why you obsess about the new witches every year.”  
“I’m not obsessing, Dean. I only want to see what they’re up to. The blood casters are the same thing every year, too. Even you only plan to work a protective sigil.”  
“Hey, that took me weeks of practice. You know I’m not in to all this voodoo. If my dad wasn’t up my butt about my magical career, I would be trying to get a degree in human mechanics, not defensive magic. Some people are good at magic. Other people ain’t. ”  
“And some people like to watch the new witches, Dean, and other people don’t. If you don’t want to sit with me fine. I can meet you in a little while.”  
“No, I want to stay with you.”  
“Then why are you harassing me about what I want to do?”  
“Cas, I don’t mean to pick on you. You’ve just been acting weird the last few months. I’m just sayin if you’ve got something you want to tell me, you can. Like, if there is someone you like or some kind of other secret, you could tell me.”  
Cas stared at Dean and willed himself to be brave enough to confide in him. After all, it was only fair. It took years for Dean to confide all his secrets: how he’d been a witness to his mother’s death and sometimes, even now, woke up in a nightmare hearing her scream; how he decided to study blood work to please his father but was more interested in human skills like working on engines; how he loved Sammy most in the world and felt a shameful resentment every time the kid made a friend that left him little time for Dean.

Remembering all Dean’s secrets, Cas tossed in a lemon peel for reducing anxiety to increase spiritual healing. Dean had been through so much and he’d shared it all with Castiel. It wasn’t fair to Dean that he kept the most central part of himself hidden for so long. But he’d kept it from everyone. His teachers applauded his potion work, little expecting that it wasn’t his spell casting or his knowledge of magical chemistry but rather the qualities of the herbs he’d gown himself that made him successful. The same happened in basic charms; whenever he was lost in magic, he’d draw on the energy of all his animal familiars and the work would be done. But he couldn’t tell Dean when he hadn’t even told his mother yet. His brothers, who only suspected, the way true villains always could, called him Snow White or princess and whenever he created magic through the hundreds of familiar friends he’d cultivated in the woods around their home, he was certain everyone would know. And he couldn’t bear for Dean to know and then to turn away from him. Because losing Dean would be worse than being one of the few male white witches. Because Cas another secret. Just one other secret. He was madly in love with Dean Winchester and had been before he’d even known what to call it. Losing Dean… he couldn’t live through it. He was certain of that.

And so he hand’t told, Dean. He wondered now if it would have made any difference. Maybe Castiel’s secret that night was a jinx. It had been eight years since he’d known Dean. Eight years of inseparable friendship. It had only been six months since Dean started dating Lisa. And it had all started the night, Dean asked for his secret, and it was withheld. What else could have happened? The dark properties of a jinx could wreak havoc on magic users. That had to be the explanation. After all, Lisa couldn’t be the only secret Dean had ever kept from Castiel, could she?

Dean had never once mentioned her. All evidence before that night suggested that she simply didn’t exist for Dean or Cas. Sure, they went to the same school and saw each other around town, but she never figured into their plans or conversations. Dean never sought her out. He never once glanced in her direction, not that Cas noticed. And Cas was sure he noticed everything about Dean. Either Dean was very good at concealing his feelings, or Lisa had done something to him. Because after the harvest festival, Dean had disappeared from Castiel’s life. Dean avoided him in the hallways at school. In the one class they had together, Dean had left his seat at the front of the class beside Castiel and moved to sit with Lisa in the back corner. Now, they only ever saw each other at the Milton-Winchester Sunday dinner.

But tonight, Castiel’s magic—the magic he always kept hidden—would bring Dean back to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The second and final chapter will post in two weeks (10/19) and an epilogue will follow either two weeks later or on Oct 31. I was recently in car accident and am suffering broken ribs and sprained fingers and a concussion, but most of this is pre-written and needs minor edits. So hopefully, I can keep up. Also hoping to post some of my InktoberBunker. Thanks for your comments and kudos. They really cheer me up. <3


	2. Chapter 2

Holding Dean’s cherry pie against his chest, allowing magic to flow though his palms to keep the pastry warm, Cas wondered for the millionth time if he were making the right choice. After working on his potion all morning, Cas had approached his mother, knowing he would need her help to hide his spell. The elixir was ready, and had a syrup-like consistency. If he planned to hide the spell in a pie, he was going to need reinforcements. Cas was a talented witch, but he knew nothing of the kitchen. White witches made magic by bringing out the soul of things, by reshaping a thing to make it pure and good. However, while all white magic focused on celebrating the heart of things, different witches excelled in different areas. 

  

All white witches communed with nature and could ease living creatures into calm purity, helping to create symphonies of order in the gardens and homes around them. Many white witches worked as teachers or focused on serving their family as mothers. These witches could see the potential in every child and knew best how to bring them into proper order. 

  

Some white magicians could hold time at bay, with a nearly God-like point of view, these magicians could almost exist outside of time. These witches, like Cas, could see the natural path every bee would take, know the order of every petal that would fall in the trees around him, and he had been practicing on keeping trees alive and flowering in winter and moving bees and butterflies to serve his plants year round, but he hand’t been able to turn his skill into seeing the paths humans would set upon. 

  

People were so complex and with free will that made them downright chaotic, and Cas, like most white witches with this power, had a hard time seeing anything about people. A white magician of Cas’s typed often eventually served as doctors or protectors. After years of schooling and study, they could heal with a touch, returning an injured organ to its natural, healthy, pure state. One day, if Cas remained quietly dedicated, hopefully he would be able to see in an instant all the laughter friends would ever share, all the love a person would ever feel.   

 

Cas’s mother, like most white witches, used tools—human and magic alike—to coax out pure flavors from food. She could make even canned goods taste like fresh selections. Her kitchen craft made her essential to Cas’s plan. 

 

Cas knew too well how much Dean loved pie, but his spell craft felt like deceit. When his mother asked what he was adding to the spell-recipe, he had told her it was a potion to draw on all the luck Dean would have in his life and have it spark during his graduation exams next week. 

 

Cas couldn’t meet his mother’s eyes as the lie passed his lips, and even now, following his family as they walked over to the Winchester’s house for Sunday dinner, he said little and stayed far behind. 

 

Would Dean hate him if he learned of this invasion of his privacy? Would Dean be angry that, again, Cas remained hidden while he dragged Dean into the light? Could he survive if the potion revealed that Dean did not feel for Cas half as much as he hoped?

 

The Winchester home appeared at the top of the next hill, and Cas could barely swallow around the knot in his throat. He burrowed down into his long coat and wished for invisibility. 

 

As they neared the front door, Dean stepped out and called a hello, but Cas couldn’t meet Dean’s eyes and kept his gaze down. 

 

“Hey, Cas,” Dean muttered as Cas trudged up the hill, twenty paces behind his family. 

 

Cas nodded, too nervous to offer a greeting. Stepping passed the gateway of the Winchester ranch made his body tingle all over. 

 

There was no turning back now. Dean would smell the pie, and Cas would never be able to undo this, but spellwork was necessary. He had to free Dean from Lisa. 

 

“Hello, Dean,” he finally managed to say, but the greeting felt wrong. For most of their meetings the past eight years, their gazes locked and they smiled warmly, and that was missing now—as it had been for six months. Cas’s eyes remained down on the grass at his feet, although he would give nearly anything to look into Dean’s green eyes again. He missed Dean’s earnest stare. He missed Dean’s smile, his wink, his humor. He missed his friend. With his eyes down, Cas also missed seeing the Winchester’s protective sigils light up as Cas and his spell passed through the Winchester entry way. … But Dean did not miss it, and his face tightened.

 

“Hey, Cas, wanna take a walk before we go in to dinner? Dad is still grilling the burgers. Got about twenty minutes left.”

 

“Oh, sure. I guess that’s—that’s a good idea. Let me put this inside first?” Cas asked, lifting the pie up.

 

“What’s that?” Dean wondered, his tone slightly tense.

 

“A pie. Cherry. I made it for you. Well, I helped mom make it for you,” Cas stuttered. “I mean, graduation is nearly here. We should be celebrating, right?

 

“Sure, why don’t you bring it along. Kinda hungry,” Dean added with a shrug. “Might eat it on the way. Sound good to you?”

 

Dean’s eyes locked onto Cas’s but there was no warmth there.

 

“Would you want that?” Dean repeated, his eyes burning in a way that made Cas shiver. Dean seemed to be trying to look right through him. He could only nod in response and let Dean lead the way.

 

As they moved through the trees, Cas let his feet fall where Dean’s had just been. Dean’s feet were quiet on the forest floor. He’d been training as a hunter his entire life, and he excelled in stalking and fighting and strategy. But that wasn’t who he wanted to be. Dean loved human things. Their music. Their machines. He adored his family car and enjoyed taking it apart. He wanted to be a mechanic, but he refused to confront his father. If Dean could be convinced to love Cas; then Cas was determined that Dean be allowed to live the life he wanted.

 

They walked for ten minutes, silence thick between them, back toward the Milton homestead. Dean was returning them to the well…and suddenly Cas’s stomach tightened with terror. The place of their first meeting was nearly sacred, always used for big moments, for revealing secrets, for celebrations, for life-changing news. Why was Dean bringing him out here? Was he going to be told that their friendship was officially over and not just dying a slow and painful death?

 

Cas trudged to stare down into the well and waited, unwilling to turn around. 

 

“I’m sorry, Cas,” Dean said. With a hiss, a fiery circle ignited to burn in a perimeter around the well. 

 

Gasping, Cas looked around him. He was locked in a magic fire, one that hunters used to trap dark witches and wizards within. “What are you doing, Dean?”

 

“I could ask you that, Cas. Did you know you lit up our sigils like a damn beacon? Either you’re up to no good or you feel guilty enough about something that you set off false alarms. You wanna tell me what that’s all about?”

 

Cas grit his teeth and shook his head, his hands balled at his sides. Dean could blame this magic on the sigils, but a cast like this required time. The magic oils took days to proof and they had to be spread before the magic user entered the area. Dean had been planning this for a while, and sigils tonight or not, he was planning on confronting Cas. 

 

Lisa’s magic must be stronger than he suspected. For Dean to treat him this way. There was no way that the best friend he’d ever had, the only man he would ever love could betray him like this, burn the years and memories between them down to ashes.

 

“Last year or so, Cas, you’ve been keeping things from me. A lot of things you’ve done and said, they surprised me. But you know, I never expected a white witch—especially you, Cas—to set off one of dad’s protective sigils when you walked through the damn gate.”

 

“Did you just call me a white witch, Dean?”

 

“Yeah, Cas. I did.”

 

“How did you know?”

 

“So you are one? You’re admitting that?”

 

Cas said nothing, angry at being so easily tricked. 

 

“Nothing to say? What does it matter Cas? So I already knew. Lisa also suspected. Now I just know for sure. But I’m guessing you know that white witches don’t retain their magic long if they manipulate others against their will. Every dark spell you cast with white magic, you lose some. You know that. Dammit Cas. You wanna be totally powerless?”

 

“It’s not like that, Dean. It’s not. I wouldn’t—”

 

“Then what’s it like Cas?” Dean asked, scowling. 

 

“Dean, I did this for you.” Cas insisted hotly. “You haven’t talked to me in six months. That’s not natural, Dean. Can’t you see? Lisa’s done something to you. I just want to help you.”

 

“Do you know what this is, huh?” Dean said angrily, thrusting a bright yellow vial toward him. “It’s a truth serum. One that Lisa Braeden helped me make because I freaking asked her to! Lisa hasn’t done anything to me. _She_ is helping me.”

 

“Helping you?” Cas whispered, lost. “You think she’s helping you. Can’t you see that doesn’t make any sense? Helping you to trap me? ”

 

“Yeah, helping me pull the truth out of you. It’s time, Cas. We graduate in a few weeks and you haven’t told me anything about who you plan to be or what you want. Drink this. Tell me the damn truth. We can fix this Cas!”

 

“Dean, it’s not broken! Not on my part.”

 

“Drink it, Cas! I mean it!” Dean yelled angrily holding his arm out toward the fire.

 

Cas shook his head, his eyes wet with unshed tears. 

 

“Cas, I trust you with me. You would never hurt me. I know that. But you won’t tell me anything. I want to know, Cas. I need to know. I need you to be honest with me.”

 

Cas turned and rested the pie on the stones around the well, his hands shaking. “Toss the bottle beyond the fire, Dean,” he said his voice rough and shaking with worry.

 

The bottle landed softly in the grass beside his feet. Bending to retrieve Dean’s spell work, he gripped it tightly, its magic making the small glass bottle ice cold. Cas opened it and drank the bitter draught in one long drink. The serum burned in his gut when he considered keeping his truths to himself. Omission would be impossible. He could tell by the color of the potion that no pain would come. Instead, each truth would make him feel satisfied and warm, free and thawing out after a long icy winter. At least until the spell wore off. Dean and Lisa had brewed a kind version of the spell, one complex enough to take months of work. 

 

So be it. Cas had longed for Dean, his love growing and growing, until last year he could now longer deny all he wanted from Dean. And now Dean would see his soul cracked open. Cas closed his eyes, let the spell begin to do its work, and prayed that Dean wouldn’t hate what he learned. 

 

“Let me tell you my story, Dean,” he said. “Let me tell you everything.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Getting better everyday after my accident. The concussion is still affecting my verbal side, but it was fun to dive back into this story. I think it may be longer than I anticipated. The BIG conversation is coming. We'll find out both their secrets. Then an epilogue and maybe even a time-stamp in the future. Hope you enjoy the story.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean has trapped Cas in holy fire and insisted on the truth. As Cas reveals his thoughts and feelings, will their relationship crumble or build into something perfect? Which witch will Dean finally choose?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is in Dean's POV. :) Also, un-Beta'd and written by someone overcoming a concussion. If you see typos, you can help me fix them by letting me know. <3

Dean watched Cas swallow the potion and drop the glass vial by his feet with a gut-churning mix of relief and sorrow. He was moments away from learning all the things that Cas kept hidden. Finally, he would learn all the reasons that Cas had started to avoid him months ago, why he hid his magic, why he couldn’t tell Dean the truth.

They were supposed to be best friends. There was no one in the world that Dean trusted more. And only one person he loved as much. And if Sam lied to him like this, he’d kick his little brother in the butt and straighten him out.

The problem with getting Cas to tell the truth was that he had a backbone made of steel. Anything he determined to do, he did. Dean admired this about Cas, always had, but the last year Cas’s nature had driven him near mad. No matter how much Dean questioned and probed, Cas had remained tight-lipped. Dean tried to give him space and leave well enough alone, trusting that in time, Cas would let him in. When he hadn’t, Dean asked Lisa for help. And he felt bad about it. He did.

If Dean had the power to control the future, he’d keep Cas by his side as long as he could. They would go to college together. Be next door neighbors. See each other every night if possible. But when things got tough, Dean hadn’t known how to handle it, and he’d done the only thing he could think of. Dean needed to hear the truth. He had to know what Cas felt. What Cas wanted, and if he needed to wink and flirt his way into getting Lisa’s help, well, so be it. He regretted it, especially as he watched Cas’s body loosen under the influence of the potion. He felt wrong. When Cas asked permission to tell Dean everything, he felt ready to vomit.

But you gotta do what you gotta do... Right?

Please let this be right, he thought, wondering where he should begin. Wondering if there was a truth he would hear that he wouldn’t be able to handle.

He started with the topic he was least afraid of.

“Cas, we’re graduating in three weeks. You got plans for where you wanna be in the fall?”

“Yes, Dean.”

“Care to clue me in?”

“I want to be where you are, Dean.”

“What?”

“If you decided to go to a national Magic Academy to study hunting, I would apply there, too.” He continued, “If you decided to be certified as an auto mechanic, I would help you enroll at the local technical school. I have applications for them in my desk drawer. I would go to the nearby non-magic college, perhaps for accountancy, to help you open and run your own garage.”

“Cas,” Dean said, his throat tight, “Why didn’t you tell me any of this. I asked you what you wanted to do, you just shrugged your shoulders.”

“You told me nothing of your plans either, Dean, and I wasn’t sure how you would feel about my lack of direction.”

“You had a direction, Cas. Me.”

“Yes, Dean,” Cas said with another warm smile. It hurt Dean to see it because he knew this open admission would make Cas cringe later.

“I’ve told you before, Cas. I love you. Like a brother. It’s ok to have a life for yourself. I know I sometimes get jealous when Sam doesn’t have time for me, but you both get to be yourself. You don’t have to protect me. You don’t have to build a life that holds mine up. I’ve told you not to throw yourself away on helping me.”

“Yes, Dean you’ve told me.”

“So why are you burning up your magic on trying to free me from Lisa.”

“I did not cast a dark spell, Dean. I would not turn to that to save you—not unless I absolutely had to.”

“Why are you so convinced that Lisa is hurting me, Cas?”

Cas grinned, “Months ago she took a central place in your life, almost overnight. All of your free time was spent with her. Even during your time at the True School, you were with her.”

“Cas, it’s perfectly normal for high school kids to make friends, be in a relationship. We could have been dating, did you ever think of that?”

“I did. I believed you were a couple—dating as you said. But that did not seem innocuous. It did not seem possible that your interest in her was natural. ”

“Why not? Lisa’s cute. Lots of warlocks are chasing after her.”

“You weren’t, Dean. You had never mentioned her name. Never looked at her as some other warlocks do.”

“You sound pretty sure of that, Cas.”

“I am sure, Dean.”

“Clearly, the fact that I was asking her for magic help didn’t occur to you.”

“She isn’t a good witch. If you wanted help with magic, Dean, you might have asked me or Sam or some other warlock,” Cas said, with a calm and certain voice.

Dean shook his head, surprised not only by how much Cas had thought about this, but also by how logically he had put things together. Of course, Dean normally would have come to Cas or his brother—except there’s no way Sam would have helped him plan this against Cas.

“So how did you account for my sudden interest in her?”

“I was certain that she had cast a love spell on you.”

“A love spell?

“Yes, a love spell,” Cas answered monotone.

“And what were you gonna do about it? What spell did you cook up?” Dean asked gesturing to Cas’s cherry pie with his chin.

“A love spell of my own,” Cas said, with a wide smile stretching over his lips, showing his gums. He giggled a little, the weight of the secret shed—at least for now.

“Cas! A love spell is black magic. You can’t bend people’s feelings beyond their will! You’re telling me you were going to fix Lisa’s dark magic with a little of your own?” Dean hollered upset.

“I brewed a tempus fujit.”

“A Time Flies potion? How is that a love spell?”

“I focused on manifesting all the affection you would ever have for me, Dean. Although our relationship was strained now, it had flourished for eight years, and it might do so again. I hoped it would be enough to over power the spell Lisa had wrought.”

“So we both came up with plots to use magic against the other one. Gotta say, Cas, friendship's not looking to healthy now, is it.”

“No, Dean.” Cas frowned, this truth obviously hurting to say out loud, despite the potion.

“You ever thought about talking to me, Cas? Asking me? Unlike some best friends, I pretty much tell mine everything.”

“You didn’t tell me about what you wanted in the future, Dean. Or where you planned to go.”

“Because I didn’t want to influence you, Cas. I wanted you to make up your mind first. Besides, you started acting weird around me before Lisa ever entered the picture.”

Cas looked away, a grimace on his features. He stared into the holy fire, looking lost.

“Cas, please, tell me why you started pulling away. As early as this summer you were acting strange. You stopped spending the night at my house. You weren’t willing to hang out half the time. What happened? Did I do something wrong?”

“No, Dean, you did nothing wrong. You were perfect. A great best friend.”

“Then why did you treat me like some kind of nuisance? Why were you avoiding me?”

“I didn’t want to be your friend anymore, Dean. I was afraid you would read that on my face. I couldn’t bear it if you knew.”

Dean felt his heart fall, his stomach plummet; the center of him dropped. He had been afraid of this. For months. And he’d acted like a fool, like a child, and cooked up a plot and a potion to try to solve this problem between him and Cas. And it turns out, he should have left well enough alone?

But if Cas didn’t want to be his friend, why worry about him and Lisa? Why think about following Dean wherever he went after graduation? He shook his head, trying to clear it. Even with a truth spell, Dean couldn’t figure out what was real.

“If I was a perfect best friend, Cas, why didn’t you want to be my friend?”

“I wanted more, Dean.”

“More? You could have told me if I wasn’t nice enough or supportive enough. I could have been a better friend.”

“You were a perfect best friend, as I’ve said, Dean.”

“Then what more did you want, Cas?” Dean yelled, frustrated and confused.

“I love you,” Cas answered, his eyes shifting, “All of you.”

“I love you, too, man. If we love each other why isn’t this working? If you love me, why don’t you want to be my friend?”

“I love your laugh, Dean. And your lips. And your smile. I love your hands and the strength in your shoulders. I love every bit of you. And I wanted more, Dean. It’s been growing, this feeling. And this summer, I wanted to claim you as mine. My boyfriend. My husband. And I wanted you to claim me. I wanted more, Dean. But I couldn’t let you know.”

Dean’s breath was gone. He did not see this coming.

Cas had never expressed an interest in anyone. Dean had thought the guy was asexual or aromantic or just plain disinterested in the few hundred people that lived in their town and went to their school. Dean had been fine with that. He was happy with whoever Cas was. Whatever Cas felt was fine, too. He would never ask Cas to change, but this . . . He hadn’t thought it possible. He hadn’t dared hope. He'd told Cas, himself, and anybody that would listen that he only thought of Cas as his brother, but. . . He felt tears prickle behind his eyes, and a breathe finally shuddered out of his lungs.

“Dammit, Cas. You should have told me. You hid that you were a white witch. Our whole life you hid it. And now this?” Dean sniffled, a tear rolling down his cheek. “You love me, but you sure don’t trust me a whole lot, do you?”

“I thought you would hate that I was a white witch. My aunt Naomi knows. She tells me I have a crack in my chassis. I thought you could mend me, Dean. You are so good at fixing broken things. I thought a life around you could give me purpose and keep me focused on more than my magic. It isn’t natural for a man to be a white witch. I wasn’t hiding that I was one. I was trying not to be. I wanted to win this battle for you. Be good enough for you. I just keep failing.”

Dean opened his palm over the holy fire, and took a knife out of his boot. A quick cut and his blood fell to the ground extinguishing the spell. He moved to Cas, muttering the words “Veritas pos liberit.”

As the words freed Cas from the spell, he pulled him into his arms. “Cas,” he said with a kiss to his temple, “You aren’t failing. I love you, too, and I always will.” He kissed his cheek. “Anyway you’ll let me.”

Looking into Cas’s eyes and seeing the spell clear from his mind, he silently asked Cas for permission to leap forward into what they had both been afraid to want. His eyes begged Cas to say yes to more between them. When Cas nodded, they kissed. Cas’s arms fluttered, nervous against his sides and ran up his back, his fingers still shaking.

“Dean. Dean. Dean,” Cas whispered, his voice breaking when they pulled away to breathe, too excited to calm their racing hearts.

“I can see, Dean. I can see it.” Cas said, his eyes widening.

“Cas, what?”

“Our future.” He laughed. “I can see it.” He ran his hands over his mouth, his eyes still wide, seeing time laid flat, staring over the horizon of untold years, seeing things Dean could not.

“In the next few minutes, you’ll feel guilt about making me subject to your magic.” With a nod to the pie behind them, he said, “You’ll insist on subjecting yourself to my spell. The time flies elixir,“ Cas laughed again, loud, his head flung back, “It will have an extreme effect.”

“An extreme effect? How extreme we talkin’ about here, Cas.”

“I’ll say only that lust will bloom. An hour later, when evening falls and makes our state of undress decidedly uncomfortable we will leave here. We will walk out of the circle and out of the woods deciding today to walk together forever, holding hands. This is the way we walked out of the woods the first time we met. We decide today to never let go of the other, Dean.”

“And what jobs do we do? Do we adopt any kids?”

Cas laughed and shook his head. “These things I cannot see yet. I only see the emotion between us, Dean. It’s a straight red line. It does not break, or bend, or waiver.”

“And your sure? You don’t ever get sick of me, huh?”

Cas shook his head no.

“And we’re about to get, you know, close?”

Cas nodded yes, unable to speak for smiling.

Dean yanked his shirt off in a hurry, “Well I’m not letting another minute go to waste, not if sunrise puts a chill on things.” After tossing his shirt aside, Dean pulled Cas closer, wrapping his arms around Cas and pressing their bodies together.

Cas smiled. He lips warm against Dean’s chest.

“Come ‘ere. Look at me,” Dean whispered.

Cas obliged pushing his head back to look up at Dean, “My perfect Golden creature,” he whispered. His smile grew.

“There it is,” Dean said leaning in to give Cas a quick buss on the lips. “You haven’t smiled like that in a long time Cas. I thought I might never see it again. It hurt, man, I gotta to say. I never knew how much I’d miss your goofy smile.”

Cas laughed. He giggled. Dean, did , too. He couldn’t help it. There seemed to be too much happiness to hold inside himself. It continued to bubble out.

“Ah, there it is again. It kills me Cas. You have no idea how adorable you look. Your nose gets all scrunched up and you smile so wide your gums show. It’s the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen, that I ever will see. And it was gone, man. For like the whole past year.”

“I’m sorry, Dean. It won’t happen again. I know. I can feel it now, how long our love will last.” He whispered, sounding in awe of what he saw. “How it will sit deep and heavy in our chests, an anchor against all other storms, for eternity.” He laughed again. “It sounds strange. I’m turning our high school romance into an epic poem. But there is something large about, Dean. Is that silly?”

“No. A male white witch who can do what you can do without any training and a magical mechanic. There’s no stopping us.”

They laughed holding onto each other, giddy for the change their lives had taken in the past few moments.

“Is this what it will be like for us Cas? Laughter every day? Like it was when we were kids?”

“Most of our childhood felt perfect, Dean. And that’s certainly how you always seemed to me, perfect. I only hope I can get things right from now on.”

“Cas, you get it, don’t you? That I think you’re pretty damn perfect, too? So, I’ll ask again, is it gonna be laughter all around for here on out?”

“I’ll do my best, Dean.”

“You’re best is more than enough, Cas. Now where’s that pie?” Dean asked, wiggling his eyebrows and leaning in for a kiss. When their lips touched they half kissed and half laughed, and it was perfect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed the story! I plan on writing and have notes for two time-stamps (their graduation and a look into their lives 10 years in the future). I am not sure when to schedule them for because I am taking part in various challenges coming up and have other things that are scheduled. For example, for this month, I am thinking of a Friends-inspired Thanksgiving Destiel story, a time-stamp for my family fluff holiday series, and a happy Christmas-time conclusion for my Victorian AU! So, if you're interested in time-stamps for this let me know, and I'll put it on my list for the near future. :) Thanks for stopping by and reading.


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